MusikGarten Teacher's
Musikgarten Teachers
Stephanie Mixner
Stephanie Mixner currently serves as the Coordinator of Children’s Music for First Presbyterian Church of Orlando. She oversees MusikGarten (early childhood music program) and children’s choirs on campus, as well as manages the teachers and leaders of those groups. Stephanie has a passion for music, especially teaching children because they are the foundation of the future. She taught music for over four years in both early childhood music and children’s choirs. She has been at FPCO since August 2003, and sings with the FPCO Chancel Choir and their auditioned group, Canticum Novum, under the direction of Rebecca Bedell. Not only does she sing in the choir, but she also leads the choir in worship as needed.
Stephanie is a native to Central Florida, attending Colonial High School, Lake Mary High School, and Seminole Community College. At Rollins College, she had many performance and conducting opportunities, and she completed her Bachelor of Arts (emphasis in voice and conducting) in August 2008. She has toured many times, visiting Mexico, Vienna, Prague, Ireland, New York, and will tour with the FPCO choir to the United Kingdom in 2010.
Lynne McKnight
Lynne McKnight is the Cherub Choir Director for FPCO, as well as teacher for the preschool and parent/child MusikGarten classes. Lynne earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Choral Conducting from Rollins College in 1997, and then continued at UCF, earning her Master of Education in music in 2006. Lynne taught K-5 music in the Orange County School system from 1997 to 2000, and then developed the music program at The Christ School from 2000 to 2005. During that time, Lynne earned her Cert I in Music Together and taught classes at First Presbyterian. Lynne trained for MusikGarten in July 2008, and received her teaching certification Level I. Other certifications include Orff Schulwerk Level I.
Lynne is very active in the Worship Arts area of FPCO, singing in Chancel Choir, and Chancel Ensemble. Lynne and her husband, Jim, love to travel, and have supported and traveled with Chancel Choir to Vienna and Prague for Advent Sing events. Lynne loves to travel, and has traveled through most of Europe, Canada, the Orient, Mexico, and the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska. She and Jim most recently went to Ireland with friends, in Fall 2006. She seeks out musical opportunities everywhere she goes, and returns home with musical treasures, instruments, and cultural knowledge, which she weaves into her teaching curriculum.
Lynne and Jim have four adult children, eight grandchildren ranging from college sophomore to 6 month old. They also have three dogs – Mozart, their Schnauzer, Puccini, the Boston Terrier, and Sasha, miss “pack leader”!
Allison Rosser
Allison Rosser has a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and a Master's degree in Educational Technology. She has taught public school band for six years and elementary music for three years. Allison taught preschool music for one year at FPCO. Currently, she teaches private flute lessons. Allison, her husband, and her one year old twins live in the downtown area. She is excited to be certified in MusikGarten and looks forward to her new parents and students.
Katie Grace Miller
Katie Grace has been a member of First Presbyterian Church since age 4. Her first performance opportunities for music were at the church in the very sanctuary that she leads the children's choirs now. Great Deja Vu moments. This is her third year teaching children's choirs. She went to University of South Florida and has a Bachelor's degree in music education. She is now working towards her Master's degree in teacher leadership at UCF. She is beginning her fourth year at Bonneville Elementary where she has 630 children that she teaches music to every week. She sings professionally in a band called Southtown Fever located in Tampa, FL and also sings solos in the Genesis service. She is married to Jesse Miller, her high school best friend and enjoys scrapbooking and anything to do with jazz music.
Christy Koester
Christine Koester received her Bachelor of Arts in voice performance from the University of Florida. She has spent the last three seasons as one of Orlando Opera’s Affiliate Artists. She has performed for children all over the state of Florida through Orlando Opera’s Outreach programs, and enjoys introducing music and opera to young children. Mrs. Koester is trained in Music Together and MusikGarten. She is looking forward to bringing the love of music to all her students and parents. She lives in Lake Mary with her wonderful and talented husband, Gerrit, and their furry friend Fritz.
Sarah Collette
Sarah Collette has been playing flute since the age of 10. She grew up in a northwest suburb of Chicago. The music programs were very prestigious. She enjoyed annual clinics at Northwestern and had several guest conductors from the Chicago Symphony.
When Mrs. Collette got to college she neither majored nor minored in music. The competition in the flute world is fierce and all she wanted to do was perform on stage, piece symphonies together and then perform the final product to listening ears.
Mrs. Collette moved to Florida and got scholarships through the community college and played some more in community orchestras and bands in Daytona Beach. There, she met James Galway because her private flute teacher took lessons from him.
Her love of music still flows through her veins. Though in her primary career she assists surgeons with cardiac and lung surgery, the love of music is never too far behind.
Mrs. Collette used to attend Music Together classes with her son. Now she has two kids and sees their faces light up when they hear music or just giggle a little when the beat becomes apparent to them. Those moments mean so much.
Even though I am not very confident in my solo singing abilities, I love bringing the sound of music to these kids. Seeing music through a child's eyes has never affected me as much as it does now. Being a MusikGarten teacher allows me to have that thrill every time I teach.
Dina Hernandez
Teaching MusikGarten at FPCO gives Dina Hernandez the privilege of introducing the next generation of musicians to making a joyful noise to the Lord. Dina has been involved with children's music since, well, since she was a child. Her own early childhood music experiences were shaped by a dynamic Cherub Choir leader, a loving piano teacher and generous parents, all of whom encouraged her love of sound. She spent her youth singing in choirs, choruses and musicals, and performing, accompanying and competing as a pianist. Dina has made music, particularly children's music, an avocation while working as a writer and an editor. She has led children's choirs at her home church, incorporated music into Sunday School lessons, organized children's Christmas musicals, and filled in at the piano on Sunday mornings when pressed. Music is ever-present in the home she makes for her husband and two daughters; composing nonsensical lyrics to well-known tunes is a favorite family pastime. She looks forward to eternally praising God in Christ through song, and believes that in heaven she'll finally be able to hit high notes without squeaking and dance without tripping.
Dottie Clendenin
Dottie Clendenin is married to Greg Clendenin and they have two boys, George and Charlie. Prior to being a Mom, Dottie had a successful career in real estate sales and marketing in both Georgia and Florida. For 14 years she worked for The Walt Disney Company with her last position as Director of Marketing for the Disney Vacation Club. However, music has always been her love. She studied piano under Marian Gordon in Macon, GA where she was #1 with the Georgia Music Teachers Association in piano in 6th and 12th grades. She received a music scholarship to Hollins University in Roanoke, VA where she double majored in performance as well as a BA in American Studies.
Dottie serves on many boards: President’s Circle, Rollins College; Board of Directors, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra; Steering Committee, Vision360; PTF, The Christ School; Fun Fair Committee, The Weekday School; Chair-Children’s Activities Committee, Country Club of Orlando; Accompanist to Children’s Choirs, 1st Presbyterian Church of Orlando; Musikgarten Instructor, First Presbyterian Church of Orlando.
Jennifer McDaniel
Jennifer McDaniel is a native Floridian, born and raised in Satellite Beach. This is where she started her love for music by playing the violin, piano, trumpet & alto saxophone. She loved to play the alto sax in jazz band. In Junior and High School she was a drum major. For the past 16 years she has been ringing hand bells and teaching Cherub Choir (4 & 5 year olds) at Delaney Street Baptist Church. Over the past six years she has sung & performed with the Florida Baptist Singing Women. The singing group was invited to open for the International Music Festival in Conventry, England where Jennifer had the opportunity to sing in the Coventry Cathedral. She has been trained by LifeWay & MusikGarten to teach children’s music classes. For the past three years she has been blessed with the opportunity to teach at the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando downtown for parent child classes, the Little School, and ICC. She has taught Tiny Tots, Music Time, Play & Praise, Made for Praise, and MusikGarten curricula as well as created her own performances for children choirs.
Prior to her career in music, Jennifer spent over 25 years in the corporate world where she worked for Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories, Schwartz Electro Optics, Sonitrol, RCA, UCF College of Engineering, and Computer Science Dept. of Brevard Community College. She graduated with a Master's degree in electrical engineering (M.S.E.E. 1991) and BSEE in 1989 from UCF. Currently Jennifer has her own engineering consulting firm, Sunesis Solutions Inc.
Jennifer has published over 45 articles in technical journals, papers, and presented at numerous conferences. She has a passion for teaching and speaking. Jennifer also works with the America Association of University Women (AAUW) on a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded grant that is designed to expose more young ladies & men to science technology engineering and math (STEM) fields. Jennifer has lead over 75 hands-on STEM workshops for young people, many of which she created. It has been a passion of Jennifer’s to engage and educate young children in the STEM fields (STEM plays a critical role in music). Music & Science are FUN - through hands on learning and teaching, a child can do anything when empowered! She is a motivational speaker, entrepreneur, educator, professional executive, and mom. Jennifer lives in Belle Isle with her husband Jim, who works for Lockheed Martin, and daughter Jessica Rose, who loves music.